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An NHS report states: "To help address the challenge of recruiting doctors, Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent is investing in physician associates. The people in these roles are graduates who have undertaken post-graduate training and are under the supervision of a doctor."

Each physician associate will spend three days a week working in general practice and the remaining two days with an NHS trust, which could include the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust or North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust.

North Staffordshire has been blighted by a GP recruitment crisis for years. A survey in 2016 revealed 15 of the area's 88 medical practices are on the brink of collapse.